Pictures of a concept e-car set to be unveiled by Peugeot at the Geneva Motor Show this March has revealed that the French car firm doesn’t regard high-performance and hybrid drive trains as mutually exclusive.
SR1_01 Peugeot's SR1 uses the firm's Hybrid4 drive system
The two-door SR1 coupé would employ Peugeot's Hybrid4 …

That would make it fun to drive in our current blighty climate of icey roads! Ironically, electric motors are very good in icey conditions, due to their extremely even torque across the rev band, including low speeds, but you really don't want rear wheel drive in those conditions, and not knowing which set of wheels are going to be moving you when you set off...

Back to front

Agree that it looks good, in a production-version-will-never-look-like this kind of way, but the drivetrain arrangement is all screwy.

If you want just to pootle around town, short-range electro-style, then front wheel drive is fine (even preferable, but you want RWD (or at least a rear-biased 4WD) out on the open road when you want to have fun. So this car is completely arse-about-face.

Not surprised though - just more evidence of Peugeot's move away from fun, light, cheap transport to slow, dull-witted family stodge.

Ah, but ease of design and manufacture

I agree with your comments about the impaired driving dynamics of this arrangement, but it makes for an easier design and manufacture. Engine and transaxle in the front (probably just an updated version of existing engine and transaxle), electric motor, controller and battery pack under the boot floor.

Whereas to shift it about you would need a prop shaft to the rear and a diff under the boot floor, and you would need to cram an electric motor into the engine bay in a position where it can drive the front diff (or use a pair of in-wheel motors, which will detract from the driving dynamics by increasing unsprung weight dramatically)

It's French

Snow and ice

...and how is range affected by using the heaters to keep warm? (are you using heat given off by the batteries and motor - like we currently use heat from an engine - or do you need an electric heater...)

(In Canada they're having to add defrosters to new LED traffic lights, because they can't melt snow like the old ones can... sometimes waste heat is useful...)

Concept: translation, you can't have one

The concept car is the one that they don't make and you can't buy (obviously). They could if they wanted to, they don't want to. Perhaps the idea is to suggest that the car they actually do make is even better, but then the concept car costs a squazillion pounds to build. The real cars are much cheaper, and they look it. Relatively.

And this particular car is only on show in the future, so at the moment it's only a concept car concept. It's such a moller it might as -well- fly as well as doing what it actually (conceptually) does.

is there any point?

One step forward one step back.

"the French car firm doesn’t regard high-performance and hybrid drive trains as mutually exclusive." Well Done! did it take hybrid cars in F1 to realise they can kind of work?

However "engine driving the front wheels and a 71kW electric motor, driving the rear." = Major Fuckup! This car is backwards... (is that typically french?) Low speed driving front wheels and power from the rear. (as suggested above) BUT more importantly in order to recover as much energy as possible and make cars efficient (for a change) we need to be using electromagnetic regenerative braking, so heres the question for you do you want to recover more energy from the front or the back wheels? rephrased as do you want stronger braking on the front or the back? I kniow what I want and its maximum regen at the front wheels, I'd truelly prefer to see an all electric drive with an efficient generator, and why not have the option to strip the generator unit out and replace it with a more efficent fuel cell as and when they are available. Anyway this car is still all fucked up and arse about face! even if its pretty.

Why are the car companies making such a meal out of it? are they trying to create 20 years of fuckups before they get it right? ala the New TV debacle (4:3 -> widescreen [new tv] analogue -> digital [new tv] SD->HD [New TV] HD ->3D [New TV] ad infinitum.. is the production rate for TV's going exponential yet?)

If we really want to be green we need to stop creating new models every 2 weeks. and concentrate on putting everything we do into one new model every two years or so.

Mobile compaines take note! (Nokia green? dont make me laugh!!!)

One model suits apple! (eek! I loathe saying it but its sensible ecologically!)